Affordable Housing Strategy and Action Plan

City council adopted the Affordable Housing Strategy and Action Plan on January 9, 2023, as a guiding document to address housing affordability in Wheat Ridge. The process started in early 2022 and included opportunities for public input, discussions with over 20 housing developers, and four city council discussions in 2022. The strategy can be found here and an abbreviated version of the work plan is below that will be updated regularly as implementation progresses.

Housing Affordability in Wheat Ridge

In the mid-2000s, Wheat Ridge faced a lack of economic development opportunities and homeowner investment that concerned local leaders. Development opportunities that could improve the community were regularly choosing nearby cities instead of Wheat Ridge. Consequently, city officials made it a top priority at that time to improve the community’s quality of life and economic health while increasing its competitive position within the Denver region. Wheat Ridge was at a crossroads.

In those days before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, a house in Wheat Ridge was relatively affordable. Fast forward to 2022 and things are more than a little bit different.

The median price for a house in Wheat Ridge is approaching $600,000 and the rental market is pushing one- and two-bedroom rents beyond $1,100 and $1,400 respectively. That means a new buyer household in Wheat Ridge likely needs an income of at least $150,000 per year (vs the 2020 median household owner income of $91,000) to afford a house. A renter needs an income of $56,000 to afford the median priced two-bedroom apartment (vs the 2020 median renter income of $42,000).

As of 2020, more than half of all Wheat Ridge renter households paid 30% or more of their household income toward housing costs. This is the government definition of unaffordability, or a “cost-burdened” household. Nearly one in four current Wheat Ridge owner households face similar affordability challenges, but the problem is more pronounced for new buyers today. New buyers likely have to have incomes in the top 20% of all U.S. households in order to purchase a house in Wheat Ridge.

This is new territory for Wheat Ridge, which as recently as five years ago was still working to revitalize itself and become more attractive and competitive within the Denver region. The strengthening local market is helpful in that regard, but city leaders are beginning to ask about the downsides of this good fortune.

This is the context within which the city began a new project–the Affordable Housing Strategy and Action Plan. It represents the first time the City of Wheat Ridge specifically studied housing affordability in the community and crafted a policy approach toward addressing the issue.

Project Basics

The purpose of the Affordable Housing Strategy and Action Plan is to:

• Assess housing affordability challenges in the community;
• Identify potential tools and resources that could help address challenges if they exist; and
• Outline action steps that match the right tools and resources to the challenges.

The consulting firm czb—experts on local government housing policy—were hired to provide the necessary technical analysis, stakeholder outreach, and strategic recommendations. czb worked closely with city staff and city council to develop a policy framework, a tool kit for implementation, and action steps to put the policies and tools to work.

Project Background

The City of Wheat Ridge has minimal policies related to housing affordability. Without this essential foundation, the city lacks direction on whether and how to take action to address affordability challenges. Recognizing this, the city applied for and was awarded a grant in October 2021 to create the city’s first Affordable Housing Strategy and Action Plan. The grant stems from the State Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) Affordable Housing Planning Grant Program and Colorado House Bill 21-1271, which offers state assistance to local governments to promote the development of innovative affordable housing strategies.

The project is largely technical in nature with a comprehensive review of data, needs, gaps, and the variety of tools that can support different housing types.

Accomplishments and Action Plan

The City has advanced several best practices and has taken decisive action to advance housing affordability in Wheat Ridge. This includes:

• Created the Wheat Ridge Housing Fund and dedicated a portion of short term rental lodgers tax to the fund
• Filed a commitment to grow the City’s affordable housing stock by 3% annually in accordance with Proposition 123 and providing eligibility for state funding
• Provided gap funding from the WR Housing Fund to Foothills Regional Housing (FRH) to enable acquisition of the Vance Street Lofts
• Approved land sale of the Bank of the West property at 44th and Wadsworth to FRH to enable a logical site design and uniform site control for a proposed mixed-income, multi-phase project called The Ives
• Modified the code to allow accessory dwelling units
• Modified the code to reduce parking requirement for deed restricted affordable housing units
• Modified the code to waive park fees for deed restricted affordable housing units

The adopted strategy prioritizes ten actions to address the issues identified. The list below is a brief summary of those actions that will be updated periodically as implementation progresses. The Strategy provides a more detailed summary of the action items and how they tie to Wheat Ridge's specific housing needs and opportunities.